Bunching and counting machine.



F. E. STRASBURG. BUN GHING AND COUNTING MACHINE. APPLIUATION FILED PEB. '1,A 190B.

Patented 0011.6; 1908.'

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1j F. E. STRASBURG. BUNGHING AND COUNTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED PEB. 7, 1908.

Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

2 sums- SHEET 2.

I [nvma: Frederie Strasburg UNITED sTATEs PATENT I oEEToE.

FREDERICK E. STRASBURG, F RUMFORD FALLS, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO COTINENTAL PAPER BAG COMPANY, A CORPORATIQN OF MAINE.

BNCHING AND COUNTING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

l Be it known that I, FREDERICK E. STRAS- BURG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rumford Falls, in the county of Oxford and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bunching and Counting Machlnes, of which the following is a specification.

,This invention relates t`o "bunching and counting machines and has for its object to provide means for gathering into bunches, each containing a predetermined number, sheets of aper, metal or other material, cards, enve ops, paper bags or other articles.

The product of many modern automatic machines is delivered therefrom at high speed and at a uniform rate and vmeans for gathering said product into bunches, each containing a highly desirab e adjunct\.to such machines.

The present invention has for. its object to provide means which, while receiving the articles from suchA automatic machines at high speed, will with great accuracy gather and arrange them into bunches each predetermined number.

To that end my improved machine comprises parts and mechanisms as illustrated,

mits preferred embodiment, in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 4is a side elevation thereof and Fi 2 a rear end elevation.

y improved machine comprises primarily a conveyer illustrated herein as an endless chain 2, traveling over and carried by suitable sprocket wheels 3, 4. Said chainis provided with gathering boxes as 5, 6, 7 of peculiar construction which will be described more in detail later herein. For convenience' and simplicity I have illustrated sprocket lwheels 3, 4 fixed to shafts 9, 10 turning in boxes 11, 12 all respectively. Said boxes are adjnstably supported on vertical post 8 u risln from floor plate `-13. y Said post may e stea ied at its up "er end, from any convenient wall or pillar, y means of tie bars 26, 26.

Power may be communicated to one of said s rocket shafts as 10 from worm 15 throng worm gear 14 fixed on said shaft 10. Said worm gear is fixed on one end of shaft 16 supported adjacent thereto in bearing 17- on ost 8 and at the other end by fioor stand 18. n said shaft 16 near floor stand 18 may be fixed sprocket wheel 19 to which power is communicated vby chain 20 from sprocket 21 redeterinfined quantity, is a containing a' Patented Oct. 6, 1908.

Appllcationled February 7, 1908. Serial No. 414,682.

on feed-roll shaft 22. On said shaft 22 is fixed feed-roll 23. for engagement with feedroll 24 on shaft 25. Sald feed-rolls may be caused to rotate at the same surface speed in the direction of their respectivev arrows, by means of the usual earing not shown, and shafts 22, 425 may e su ported from the framework of my machine y suitable means not shown.

Power is communicated to shaft 22 from any suitable source of power.

f desired rolls 23, 24 and their shafts may form a part of the machine from which it is,

desired to deliver the articles to be bunched and counted by my improved machine. In any case it is necessary to properly time said rolls with the machine to be served or, in the absence of such primary machine, to supply4 the articles to be hunched and counted at a uniform and predetermined rato to said rolls.

In Vthe drawings 'I have shown sprocket chain 2 as having twelve links each carrying a gathering box as 5. This choice of number of links and boxes is arbitrary and there can with e ual efficiency be more or less. Also a pluriility of said boxes may be mounted o n one link or said boxes may be mounted on alternate links or otherwise spaced relative to isaid links, so long as said boxes be spaced uniformly and in such relative contiguity as f to provide a continuity of receiving means for the articles.

Passing now to a more detailed description 1 of the receiving boxes it will be observed that said boxes are all of one attern and a description of one will there ore sulice for all.

For convenience of illustration, in Fi 1 I haveshown only three gathering boxesut it will be understoodthat in practice boxes will be arranged about the Whole length of carrying chain 2 as shown in Fig. 2. Therefore referring particularly to box 5, said box Icomrises three sides, viz: a rectangular end 50 b which said .box is attached to conveyer boidal back 51 attached by one edge thereof to the rear edge of end 50 and extending upwardly and away from end 50 toward the receiving end of box. The third side of said box is vbottoni 52 hinged at one of its ends to the lower edge of end 50.' For the [purpose of said hinging, bearing ears 53, 54 a ixed to end 50 support shaft 55 fixed to said bottom 52. An inreaching ear 56 is provided on the lower edge of backl to support ,bottom l52 in its lower position as shown iganged vert/ica t tion) that is parallel to the chain links to Vwhich they are attached respectively. This in box, o. A bottoni 52 when in its lower or receivinq osition thus lies substantially parallel wit the bottom edge of back 51 and inits receiving end. i

' bottom 52 has one end of sprin 27 attached to its outer end for urging said ottoni to its lower position and for retaining it in'tliat position. The other end oi said. spring is at tached to post 58 in end 50. Bott-0in 52 may have its side notched as at 59 to facilitate the removal of the bunch of articles after being gathered and counted. A spring deflector 60, attached to bottoni 52, is provided to assist in guiding the articles into thebox immediately below it. Box is mounted on chain 2 .obliquely whereby said box is caiited relative to the perpendicular and bottom 52 thereof has its front edge higher than its back edge and back 51 has'its top edge rearward of its bottom edge as seen in Fig. 1. lf said box was shifted so that its back 51 was parallel with the run of chain 2 and the run of said chain was modified to lie in approximately' the presentaiigle of baclr 51 relative to the vertical. the same object would be 'accomplished.

lBy means of the aforedescribed upwardl -inclination of bottom 52 towards its receiving end, the reception ol' articles deliveredto the box is facilitated. '.ihe canting of said box relative to the vertical serves several purposes; -rst it compensates for the well known back and forth movement ofthe boxes with chain 2 caused by the' passage of the relatively long links of said chain over thev relativel small sprockets 3,` 4 Second, said leantmg facilitates the delivery of the articles ,againstback 51 of the box whereb said articles arearranged in a regular pi e in said box; and third, said cantiug of the boxes facilitates the retention of the articles in the boxes after delivery. A. Under 'some conditions if desired the boxes otniy improved mechanism may be provided rwith trent walls respectively. In this case said boxes ma have ,their ends as arlly (when in operative posiarrangenient, however, does not provide any compensation forthe'I right and' left movement (Fig. 2) of the boxes caused by the passage of the chain over the sprockets, and it is necessary to make said boxes enough wider to allow oi properdeliver thereinto at all stages of their right and le t movement. .i

li' bottoni 52 was hxcd in its lower position (as shown in box 6) it would be practically impossible to change from delivery into one box to delivery into the next succeeding box with precision at high speed even though said boxes were moved intermittently or at a variable speed. Togobviate this diculty and aliord freedom and precision of delivery' ceac-1i l have provided "the movable bottom 52 already described. 'lo accomplish the movenient of said bottom lhave provided the following means. y @n bracket 31 adjustably xed en post S is cam arm 32 ini'eaching for engagement-with tri lever 33 ixed to the inboard end oi pivota shaft of bottoni 52. Trip lever 33 extends from its shaft 55 rear- .ardly toward the receiving end of box` 5. Said cani arm 32 is so positioned vertically relative to the travel of box o' that us said box is carried downwardly by chain 2 toward the position shown in Fig. 1, trip lever 33 engages with said cam arm 32 and causes bottom 52 to swing u wardly on its pivotal shaft 55 out oi' the pat i ol' the incoming articles as 40. Said botto in 52 is retained thus out oi position until the last article required to make up the predetermined number has been delivered into box 6 when trip lever 33 passes out ol' engagement with cam arm 32 and bottom 52 urged by spi-ing 27 moves promptly across the path olI delivery ol the articles into its lower position ready to receive the; first article of its particular load. ln Fig. l article 40, in the act ol being dclivered, is the last article of the complement of box G and bottom 52 ol' box 5 is on thc verge 'ol moving to its lower position. -'l`he gathered bunches are supposed to bc removed from the boxes before said boxes have passed materially beyond the position oi box 7. The boxes then )ass idly around sprocket 4 and then upwardly and over siiocliet 3 into operative position as describe( Continuous uniform movement of boxes 5, 6, and so forth, past the point of delivery ol the articles is no't` a requisite to the successful /opeiation ol' my improved machine; a continuous i'ythmical movement or a regular intermittent movement are equally eilicicnt and may be used il' more convenient. The movement must, however, be regular whatever its detail characteristics.

Various changes of arrangement to accommodate thc invention to particular environments will be obvious to those skilled in the art, all within the scope of my invention.

l claim: l l.. The combination of a conveyor, means for moving said convcyei vertically downward in regular movement, a series oi boxes carried by said conveyor an d cantcd relativo to the perpendicular, means l'oi' deliveringr articles into the path ol travel of said boxes, a movable bottom in each box, means `for holding said bottom out ol' thc path ol' dolivf ery of said articles and moans l'oi' moving said bottom across the path olI delivery oi' said articles.

2. The combination oi' a series oi' boxes, uniformly spaced and cantcd relative to their direction of travel, means to niovc said boxes in regular movement in a rectilinear path oi travel, means `l'oi' delivering articles at a uniform rate andin a constant direction into the pathof travel of said boxes, a movable member in each box, means @for maintaining said movablemember out of the path of delivery of said articles and means for moving at a predetermined time, the movable member across said 4path of delivery'of the articles.

3. The combination of a conveyer chain, a series of -boxes uniformly spaced thereon,

n means to move the conveyer c-hain in regular saidL articles and nieans carried by said 6. The coy lbina rectilinear movement, means for delivering articles at a uniform rate and in a constant direction into the path of travel of said boxes, a bottompivotally mounted in each box and inclined to its direction of travel and means for intermittently swinging p said bottom acrossjhe path of delive `of said. articles.

4. lThe combination o an endless chain, means for moving said chain in regular movement, a series of boxes uniformly spaced on said chain, means for delivering articles at a uniform rate and in a constant direction Vinto vthe pathl of travelof said boxes, a bottomdeliver of said articles and yieldable means for de ecting-fsaid adj acent to" s aidlb articles into the box next tion o a conveyer,;.meansfor moving said conveyerinregular move; f ment, a series of boxes uniformi:v spaced on? said conveyer, meansfor delivering 'articles 'at aumform rate and 1n aiconstantfdlrectlon boxes'amqvest man" andrea sparsi* delivery'of saldarticlesan means` arrie'dby said bottom for the box next adjacent jtojsaidbottom.

defiecting'" the articles finto 7. The combination of a .series of boxes uniformly spaced,` means for moving said boxes in regular movement means for delivering articles into the patfi of travel of the boxes, a movable bottom in each box, means carried by said bottom for deecting said articles into the box next-adjacent to said bottom, means for temporarily Withholding said bottom from its receiving position and means for returning it'at a predetermined time to its receiving position.

8. The combination of a conveyer, means for moving said conveyer in regular move- 65 ment, a series of boxes uniformly spaced on said conveyer, and canted relative totlie'perpendicular, a bottom pivotally mounted in each box, meansfor delivering articiesinto the path of travel of said boxes, means for intermittently' swinging said bottom across the path of travel of said articles. Y

9. The combination of a conveyer, means for moving `said conveyer in regular movement, a series of boxes carried by saidv con- 75 veyer and canted relative to the perpendicular, a bottom vpivotally mounted 1n eachbox, said bottom'beinginclined upwardly toward' 'its' receiving end when in its receivin .poste y tion, means fol-'temporarily withhol lng 'it "80 from its receiving position and means for ,reif-f turning it at a predetermined timetoits-re ceiving osition. l ff 1Q. T e combination of alconve er," vath ering boxes mounted thereon, each l 4 provided with a movable member, means for 'delivering articles at auniform rate intothe path of`trave1`offsad boxes, means to main-I `tain; said movable member out' of the path'rfi,y

at a predetermined time the movable memwj `ber 4across ,the path of travel-,of the articles, 'yieldable' means mounted on the j movable member for deflecting' said articles into'the 'box nextadj acentlto said movablefmer'nber, 95"

and means for moving the conveyer. ,..r;.k;. r

`Sig 4ed thi fourth day ofFeb'ruary', 1908 at Rumford Falls, Maine, in the presence of twoisubscribing'rvitnesses. g j

y ff rnnnssrox E.` s'rnxsnune.

C. Non'roN MIXER.

delivery ofthe articles and means for moving QQ- 

